


United We Stand

by flipflop_diva



Series: The Great Divide [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Established Relationship, Multi, Natasha Needs a Hug, POV Multiple, Post-Civil War (Marvel), Protective Steve Rogers, Rescue Missions, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-10-03 04:12:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10235609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/pseuds/flipflop_diva
Summary: Natasha thought she was dreaming. Or maybe dying. Either one would have explained the voices she heard.A story in three parts. This is the final part. Set post-Civil War.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dr_Fumbles_McStupid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr_Fumbles_McStupid/gifts).



Natasha thought she was dreaming. Or maybe dying. Either one would have explained it.

She heard Steve’s voice, calling to her as if from a distance. He was calling her name, over and over and over again. She could hear Tony, too. His voice was coming from the same place as Steve’s. Almost like he was with him. Like they were together. How they were supposed to be. How they used to be, before the Accords, before the fighting, before everyone had to take a side.

In her dream, or maybe her hallucination, their voices drew closer, became louder. And then it was almost like they were there, standing beside her. 

Steve was still calling her name, over and over and over, but Tony wasn’t. He was talking to her, though, telling her she was safe, that she was going to be okay, that she was with them, that they had her. Telling her everything she had been wishing he would say.

And then they were freeing her. Pulling off the chains that bound her. Covering her bruised and naked body with a blanket. Lifting her up into their arms.

“You’re safe now, we’ve got you. No one’s going to hurt you again,” she heard Tony whisper, and it felt so real. It felt so nice.

In her dream, Steve was holding her, cradling her against him, stroking her hair.

He was so warm, so protective. It made her feel calm. Feel happy. Feel safe. So safe.

She wanted it to be real. More than anything, she wanted it to be real.

•••

Tony’s tip turned out to be accurate. The people holding her were keeping her in an abandoned building in an abandoned town just off the Gulf of Mexico. 

“How did you find her exactly?’ Steve asked as they had eyed their approach. T’Challa had loaned them a jet, told them to get her and get back safe.

“I have my ways,” Tony said, and Steve eyed him suspiciously.

“And old agent friend,” Tony supplied, and Steve eyed him again.

“SHIELD,” Tony finally said. “Are you happy?”

“So they do still exist,” Steve said.

“SHIELD always exists,” Tony answered, and Steve would have been worried his boyfriend was in cahoots with Fury if he wasn’t so worried about getting Natasha back.

Intel told them there would be about ten guards. They hadn’t brought reinforcements, but Tony had handed him back his shield. It felt weird touching the red, white and blue metal again, but it was also oddly comforting. Having his shield back, having Tony back. It was the first step to getting his life — his family — back.

“Thank you,” he’d said after Tony had given it to him, and Tony had nodded. They had traded apologies all through that first night, saying them in words and with their lips and with their touch, and they had both understood when the morning light started to dawn that the time for more apologies had then been over.

It had been months since Steve had fought, been weeks even since he’d sparred with anyone. Tony didn’t say, but Steve felt it was probably the same for him. 

It didn’t matter, though. A leap from the plane, a run through the deserted dirt alleyways, the first knock out of a guard with his shield, and it all came back. The adrenaline of battle. The feeling of fighting side by side with one of the people he loved most in the world.

They worked in tandem, a perfect team once again, taking down guards with fists and shields and blasters until there was no one left for them to take down.

And then they ran. Faster, harder than they could remember running in a long time. Steve called her name. Tony asked FRIDAY to scan for life. 

They found her in a small, dark room in the basement of the building. It was hard to see her in the dim lighting, but when they freed her from the chains, covered her in a blanket Tony found in another room, pulled her into their arms, Steve could tell how much lighter she was since the last time he had seen her, had much frailer she felt as he held her against him.

He kept her in his arms the entire flight back to Wakanda, stroking her hair and rubbing her back. Tony sat beside them, his arm around Steve, his other hand grasping Nat’s. Tony told her they were sorry, that they missed her, that they loved her, that she was safe.

And when they got to Wakanda and handed her off to the medical team, Tony and Steve wrapped their arms around each other, slunk to the ground and cried.

•••

Natasha opened her eyes. She was in a small, dark room. But it wasn’t cold. And it wasn’t quiet. She could hear beeping all around her. Constant, tinny beeping. Like monitors.

She wasn’t alone either. Two people were with her, one on either side. Each one was holding one of her hands. 

They were warm. She was warm. 

The pain wasn’t gone, but it wasn’t all-encompassing now. It was there, like something in the back of her mind, but she could think again, could feel again.

“Tony? Steve?” Her voice sounded rough, weak. She wasn’t sure how long it had been since she used it. It was loud enough though. 

Suddenly hands were touching her, stroking her hair, wiping away tears she hadn’t realized were dripping down her cheeks. Lips were kissing her temple, her hands, her lips.

“You’re real?” she whispered after a while. “I’m safe?”

“We’re real,” Steve answered.

“And you’re safe,” Tony said. “We’re all safe.”

She wanted to say more — she had so much to say, so much to ask — but she was so tired, still. She tried to focus on the two men, but her eyes were closing, almost against her will.

“I love you,” she tried, but she didn’t know if she had said the words out loud.

Her head was heavy, but she felt so warm, so safe. She couldn’t think. The world was fading. In the distance, in what sounded so far away, she heard voices.

“We love you, too,” she thought they said, before she drifted back off to sleep, at peace at last, for the first time in months.

**Author's Note:**

>   
>    
>    
>    
> 


End file.
